Solitude
by Tranquility and Deceit
Summary: In which, she has been forsaken. *Self-Insert OC.
1. Prologue

"He's highly unfit to—," the slightly worn-out Professor had once again attempted to begin his argument. 

"Ash."

"What?" The Professor softly questioned in concern as the child's tears began to slowly fall.

She inhaled shakily as the soft, yellow-colored furry creature reached out a delicate paw towards one of her flushed cheeks. Its eyes brimmed with concern. Its paw stilled before it sought contact as if fearing that, if done forthwith, it would shatter the delicate girl. 

Her lips parted into a loving smile, "Ash?" _The Chosen One_. _Her Chosen One._

The room was silent as four sets of eyes —four stupefied spectators— observed the now acquiescent Pokémon hesitantly and ever-so-delicately trace its paw from her chin to her cheek similar to that of an artist erasing away the existence of an unfitting characteristic of his magnum opus before extending its other paw to rest upon her other cheek; both Arceus-made mammals steadily gazed into one another's eyes with profound sentiments that the present audience could not decipher, but it mattered little as the small critter had arrived to its resolution. In doing so, _he_ had eliminated their presence from within _their_ world.

With a gentle cry of exclamation and a lick upon her nose, the critter fell into her embrace, which it reciprocated to the best of its abilities with its stubby little arms, causing the girl to giggle and slightly curl into herself. 

"We're a team now, Ash." _We have each other._

"Pichu." _We have each other._


	2. Chapter I

_**Summary:**_ _When a dumbass is born into the world of Pokémon with a fucked up storyline and does not know how to go about it._

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I, Tranquility and Deceit, do not have the creativity nor capability to come up with the work that is Pokémon. That being said, I wished I owned it. All I own is my idiot of an OC._

 _ **Warning:**_ _Read at your own risk; I am lazy and busy (mostly lazy) so I tend to purposely forget that I have deadlines to meet in order to live with myself._

 _ **Published:**_ _12/12/2018_

 _ ***Partially un-edited.**_

* * *

 **Chapter I**

* * *

Hesitation crept within me as I unsteadily stared at the time, _11:07 p.m._

"They should have chosen their designated Pokémon by now." I mumbled as I hastily arose from the couch and made my way towards the front door. Sitting down to put my aged and spent Converse-like Chuck Taylor All Star High Tops on, I pondered over the notion of skipping over the entire ordeal and capitulating to the tranquility of this sedentary lifestyle as it accorded with protection. I sighed as I secured the door behind me.

The forecast had predicted a sun-drenched day of 89 degrees Fahrenheit with no possibility of rain, but a consistency of equable winds, which, to me, made it the ideal day to fuck shit up —in reference to the storyline. In thirty-nine minutes, I stood before the double doors, my heart continuously fluttering and anxiety coldly creeping into the entirety of my being, " _It shouldn't be too late to bolt now_ ", it emphasized, " _You serve no purpose whatsoever_."

I spun on my heels with the intention to bolt towards my sanctuary, but a thunderous slamming of doors and a firm grasp on my hoodie had me reeling into the abyss of hell.

"Harmony, it is a pleasure to have you _finally_ join us," The Professor declared as he calmly dragged me through the corridors, "Why are you so late?"

"I don't think I'm ready for this."

He halted, released the grasp on my hoodie, and spun me around. His deep, obsidian eyes scrutinizing me under the lights.

"You look terrible," He noted as he sought for something in his lab coat pocket, "Hold your hand out." I hesitantly did so, cautiously aware that my little stunt had mildly irked him.

"Well, that's one, now let's meet up with the others."

I rapidly blinked. Dumbfounded and entirely numb, I mechanically pursued him with the Pokéball in hand into the chamber of "wonders", where all new trainers were directed towards to receive their starters, and was met with the irritated gazes of three notorious and soon-to-be internationally acclaimed Pokémon trainers: Red, Blue, and, surprisingly, Green.

"Our fourth trainer has finally arrived!" Professor Oak exclaimed as he glided across the room in seemingly contented bliss, "Now, where were we?"

Blue tsked, "Gramps, what the hell? We've waited an hour for _you_ to get here, then we waited another hour and a half for _her_! I could have been on Route 1 with _my_ new Pokémon by now, but no, we had to wait for her high—"

"Blue, that'll be enough from you. You'll be receiving your starter; at least, some suspense was built up. As punishment for being rude, you'll be choosing last."

"But that's not fair, I was the first one here and there are only three—"

"Yes, there are three official Kanto starters that Red, Leaf, and _you_ will be choosing from. On the other hand, Harmony will choose from the selected provided." That must have immensely pleased Blue, because, from the corner of my eye, I was able to distinguish the smug grin he sent my way followed by a wink.

A charming smile overtook the Professor's features as he turned towards me, "As gratitude, the aides and I came to an accord that we'd start you off with an Eevee and the official starter of your choice."

A tense silence filled the room as three unsatisfied trainers eyed me with varying degrees of displeasure and envy, Professor Oak observed this and audibly sighed, "You three should comprehend that her volunteer services were of great assistance to us. This is our way of repayment to her… besides that Eevee was quite persistent."

I blinked and, driven by an invisible force, my index finger automatically moved and pressed down on the center button of the pokéball, which was all it took for the dog-like creature to let itself out and appear onto my shoulder in a white light with a bright chirp, "VE-EE-EE!"

* * *

"AII—" I shrieked as I face-planted into the marshy ground for the fourth time.

"Pi-Pi-Pi!"

"Ve-ee-ee!"

I sputtered in a futile attempt to get the ebony-like liquid out of my mouth as I hurriedly attempted to rise from my sprawled-out position.

It had begun to rain early morning the third day that Ash, Aura, Caelus, and I had begun this journey and, for-the-love-of-all-Arceus, the rain would not stop.

At the beginning, I had constantly insinuated that Ash, Aura, and Caelus return to their pokéballs; and, afterwards, I had stated my intention to return the three as I had scoured through my backpack. I had failed in returning them, since they would swiftly dodge the red beam regardless of my underhanded tactics; in my disappointment that they would not listen ―because, damn it, they were babies and their immune systems were still so weak, my eyes had begun to burn with the familiar sensation of oncoming tears. Caelus, the sweetheart, had immediately caught on and had smacked the other two on the back of their heads with his tail. At seeing his abuse to our family, I had begun to cry and everyone had frantically scattered about, their loud squawking diminishing in sound until I could no longer hear them.

Frozen in place with the sensation of my heart falling, the rain had begun to heavily pour and I was without my critters. _They had left me_ , had been my first provocative thought before a numbing panic had begun to settle within my chest. _They could die in the cold_. We had not paused to rest that day and had not even bothered eating breakfast. _They could die on an empty stomach._ My mind had wandered into the countless possibilities and the what-if's that I had fallen back, frightened, when I had felt the hit on my abdomen.

Persian-green, narrowed eyes met mine as the mouse Pokémon sat on its hind legs and chattered in its foreign language as it gazed down upon me. Immediately, I had crossed my arms in front of my face in self-defense as past information from my volunteering service days at Professor Oak's laboratory came to me: the Rattata species fell beneath the "temperamental species" like the Mankey species and, if incautious, an individual could be severely injured if transgressing its habitat due to the being overprotective of their young. I had concluded that maybe we had trespassed onto the Rattatas' territory and, thus, my critters had fled when they had sensed the danger. Warmth had pricked at my eyes, the Rattata had squealed when he heard my sobbing and the delicate little paws that had so kindly patted the crown of my head had caused me to giggle and carefully lower my arms as I smiled at _him_ , "Have you, by any chance, seen my friends?"

According to Ash, who had later returned with a large pile of nuts and berries in his stubby arms followed by Aura and Caelus ―the former carrying a semi-large piece of wood while the latter, all of us later learned by bearing witness to, had filled his mouth with nuts and berries he had come across on the muddy ground; they had thought I was tired, hungry, and cold.

We had been forced to take refuge under a tree, and in-between the tree and two shrubs located side-by-side, which Aura had found a distance away during her search for firewood. Caelus had promptly deposited the nuts and berries onto the floor of our temporary shelter, which had mildly grossed me out, but, noticing how the others did not seem to pay any mind, I had come to the realization that I should be grateful for Caelus's consideration and effort. Thus, I had taken it upon myself to take a handful and step out into the rain to wash away the dirt and saliva with water. Rattata, comprehending my actions, assisted me to the best of his abilities and grabbed a few to wash off, since his paws were too small to hold much.

Afterwards, when the berries and nuts were placed in a plastic pokébag and placed in my backpack, I had seated myself. It was during these few moments that Ash Pichu had come up with the idea to dig a hole near us in one of his ingenuine spurt of the moments. Sometime after he had begun to dig and realized how much of a laborious task it was, he had somehow convinced Aura Eevee to dig alongside him while Caelus Dratini ―who had snuggled his head into the crook of my neck and wrapped himself around my upper torso in a futile attempt to warm me, the Rattata―who had curled up on my lap, and I had gawked on in disbelief as mud was splattered all over our already mud-soaked selves in the two little Pokémon's attempt to finalize their pseudo-grotto; which, shortly after completion, they had hurried us in. The entrance in the ground was small, but my nine-year-old body made it possible for me to suck in my stomach as I used the side of the wall as leverage to push myself down before I felt solid ground. Caelus's tail had carefully wrapped itself around my ankle as he pulled it towards him, which made me kneel. My beloved Dratini friend had repeated this action with my other ankle before I realized he wanted me to crawl in backwards into our little underground shelter.

The room had been cozy enough and had provided enough warmth for us that we decided to have breakfast. We had divided our portions as evenly as we could (where the remainders were given to Caelus who was lengthier in size). During this time, the critters had begun to animatedly chat away with our newest companion.

Ash who ―surprisingly, like the original Ash's Pikachu― had the ability to strangely contort himself in order for me to interpret their conversation, informed me that Nicodemus had been following us since he had lost sight of his mischief that very morning after he had failed to meet up at the designated time and area due to having gone to the restroom; by the time he had returned, their scent had been cleared by the heavy downpour of rain and he was unable to recognize any familiar landmarks towards their habitat, since the landscape had all been muddled with by the rain. He had seen us in the distance; or, more like, he had seen the bright, vivid colors of lemon-yellow and pure-white. Having no other option, he had decided to run after us where he had noticed our dilemma of trying to find a place to rest and escape the weather.

When I had inquired as to how the little mouse did not know how to return home, Ash informed me that the critter was a _baby boy_. My friends and I had solemnly finished our meal before I asked them to question the Little One about him wanting to find his family, because, realistically-speaking, we were in no rush to get to Viridian City. Caelus had taken responsibility in doing so and, before long, Pichu had climbed onto my shoulder, using one of his pudgy, diminutive fingers to point at the Little One.

 _He._ "Pi―"

Pichu had made a triangle-like shape and placed it over his chest where his heart was.

 _Heart._ "Chu―"

The yellow critter had leaped off my shoulder to stand in the middle, spreading his arms out before spinning once, then pointing towards Caelus, then Aura, then me, before pointing towards himself.

 _Us._ "Hu―"

The Little One had chirped and nodded along.

A smile had pulled across my chapped (and bleeding) lips as I slowly extended my arm with my palm up towards the Little One, "We would be very honored and happy to have you join our family… Nicodemus?"

Astute, glistening persian eyes had met mine and _he_ had nodded before he had leaned forward and licked my middle finger.

 **.**

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

 **.**

Hence, here we were now, Caelus guiding me up a muddy slope with his tail. The uneven terrain causing me to slip and trip forwards every now and then, since I was avoiding a nasty fall backwards, which could potentially harm Baby Nicodemus who was currently hanging onto my neck for dear life from inside my grey, muddy, and soaked hoodie.

Ash and Aura's grotto had been luxury in comparison to this hell. After we had eaten, we had all decided to snuggle for naptime; tragically, we were rudely awakened when mud started splattering onto the ground near us followed by rain, which indicated that the ground above us was starting to soak up too much water and it was time to _GTFO_ before said luxury would collapse upon us.

"Ash, Aura, Caelus, are you guys sure you don't want to return to your pokéball? You'll be safer there."

Three disapproving faces glanced back at me.

I sighed, "I'm worried you guys will get hurt; this―" I pointed to the terrain, "Isn't in any of _your_ area of specialty. You all know that."

Electricity crackled a few feet to my right, which caused my right leg to slightly spasm.

Looking up, startled, I scolded Ash, "You're lucky that mud is an electric insulator; you could've hurt Nicodemus."

Ash had the dignity to look ashamed as his ears folded downwards when he heard Nicodemus's yelps of indignation.

* * *

Viridian City was not itty-bitty. It was more of a metropolis by the looks of it with sky high buildings, supermarkets, paved roads, and crowded streets.

The games and anime had done little justice to present it. Then again, there was a difference in seeing something in real life and seeing something from behind a television screen and/or computer screen.

Whispers, gasps, and laughs followed my friends and I as we trudged along towards the nearest Pokémon Center (so we had seen on the town map at the entrance of Viridian). It had taken us thirteen days to get here. It had taken us _thirteen freaking days_. We were caked in dried mud, leaves, and grass blades. We were exhausted, famished, and the majority of us were injured.

A pinched smile came across Ash's face as Nicodemus scurried from window to window in front of us. My heart warmed at the sight, recognizing Ash's worry for the troublemaker. My friends, _my family_ , were amicable; they were altruistic and, overall, oh-so-very-loving. It amazed me to no end how such creatures could be so forgiving and sincere and pure; they were my adoration. I was no longer alone; I had them, they had me, we had each other. Such a selfish thought, I loathed it, because it benefited me; but I had made an oath to myself that they would never be a means to an end. I refused to have them dedicate themselves to the life of battle only to sustain injuries and, possibly, a hurt pride. They were strong, I know they were, but, such battles, what were they for? An income, I understand that; obtaining strength, on the other hand, was a concept I could not comprehend. My psychologically unstable mind could only associate such battles with the laziness of an individual and their narcissistic attitude to not gain strength themselves. Education was, by no means, lacking here; obviously, since this world was so technologically advanced. There were many ways for an individual to prosper in this world without having to rely on Pokémon to battle, but, tragically, with a heavy heart, I realized people will always desire the fame and fortune. It hurt thinking about it, because, regardless where we humans were born into, we destroyed everything meant to reside in unity.

These last days had tested our friendship and our dedication to each other. I had underestimated this world. For as long as my memory had begun to properly function, I had thought, because there were Pokémon, it was safe. Although idiotic to admit now, this statement had been what I had abided by. It had been my misinterpretation that this world was safer than the one I had _originally_ grown up in. It pissed me off to no end, because I was too gullible. Pokémon had been a cartoon, a game, and a manga where death was implicated, but, to _my_ own knowledge, had never been solidified. I had not been obsessed with it during my last life and, even during my last moments of life, it had not even been _anywhere_ on my mind. _Not one bit._

It infuriated me that I was thrown into another life that was not meant to be. I was petrified, because I had _suffered_ more in _this_ life than my last! I was physically nine-years-old for crying out loud! What the hell?! Yes, I was grateful that war was no longer, but that did not mean that there were not any terrorist organizations that lusted after power. On the news, these organizations were expressed to be savage criminals. Criminals who enslaved Pokémon with the agenda of experimenting on them and exploiting them in order to fund themselves for future operations that would lead them to world domination. _We_ had been lucky enough to escape from being caught by the savages known as Team Rocket.

This tragedy had occurred a couple of days after we had been acquainted with Nicodemus, we had stopped to rest and eat in a small canyon we had been traversing through. A simple, unavoidable event really. We had done no wrong; we had not harmed the creatures or nature, we had just been _living_. It was Ash and Nicodemus who had felt the rumble before anyone else, their ears had perked up, but it had been too late. A bomb had sounded off from the distance. Ash's alarmed squeals had us abandoning our food in preference for our luggage as we scurried and ran in the direction he had pointed towards. Caelus was wrapped around me; Aura and Nicodemus were clung to my neck and in the safety of my hoodie; and Ash was guiding me from the perch of my shoulder. I had not known what had gone on exactly, but Ash's warning had been enough for me to acknowledge that we were in _grave_ danger.

It had been during my scaling of the canyon that we had heard rushing water that I had finally comprehended Ash'a constant signals of _up, up, up, higher, higher, up._ The canyon had been flooded with water.

I had desperately scrambled upwards towards an edge ( _any_ edge really), but it had been in futile. From our location, it had been obviously noticeable that the water would still submerge us from such an ominous height. I had tried though, I had hopelessly climbed another wall with the optimism that _somehow_ , _someway_ , we would get lucky and not be washed away.

Nothing had ever gone my way. Nothing would _ever_ go _my_ way.

We had been washed away.

Dark liquid had rushed into my mouth, overcoming my taste buds with its grimy and sharp-tasting sandy texture, but I had compelled myself to close my mouth and swallow it. I had felt reassurance that my critters were still hanging on, I had felt their warmth; I had felt Ash's warmth at my chest (he had managed to climb into my shirt), I had felt Aura and Nicodemus tiny paws clutching on for dear life, and I had felt Caelus grasping on and propelling himself downwards.

My trust would always be with them.

I had come to my senses that he specialized in water; he _knew_ what to do in water. Even in my past life, I had little-to-no experience in water. I had only known that, when pulled under by a tide or swept away in a current, one can twirl and spin making it difficult to locate the surface. So I had deemed myself useless and had held tight onto Ash as my vision had begun to blur and spot as my lungs burned, begging to breathe in fresh air. Caelus would save us surely, and he had.

When I had come to, I had choked up water and mud. I had made sure that _they_ were okay and, although Nicodemus had looked very dazed, we had survived. As I had flipped over onto my hands and knees to cough, I had raised my head and met Caelus's eyes only to have my brain falter.

Caelus had evolved… surely and truly, he had become lengthier, his scales had modified to a pearl mystic turquoise (a shade darker than before), and he had developed ivory-colored wings at his temples that had glistened with raindrops. _He had become even more stunning._ A fact that Cieltei would later confirm had caught Team Rocket's eye from across the water; they, like I, had been enraptured by the graceful presence Caelus had exhibited from amidst the rain.

Team Rocket had spotted us from across the rushing water, the only boundary that had been separating us. Something that had easily been overcome through their utilization of flying Pokémon. Aura, out of sheer instinct, had spun with a glowing, golden tail and had shot solid blazing star-shaped figures at them. If they missed or not, I would never know.

Adrenaline had filled my senses and I had sprinted off with Nicodemus in my arms as the others had followed closely behind. We had successfully dodged every attack launched at us, since Aura had darted in front of us to guide us towards the forest. We had stumbled around the trees and shrubs, and, at times, we had forced our way through the actual shrubs with the sensation of thorns and branches scraping past our skin.

A wind attack that had struck and demolished the muddy ground behind me had lifted me forwards and sent me tumbling down a hill to land on my left side with a sickening thud. Whimpers of pain escaped my lips as I rolled around in agony, the screeches of concern reaching my ears. I had felt Nicodemus's soothing hands at my waist, straining to push me over onto my back. It had been impossible for me and, with a dread, I had come to the realization that something was broken, but I could not identify what it was. The adrenaline was still pumping through my system, but every inhalation felt like I was breathing in fire, and the rain had been getting into my nose and mouth making me cough and cough until I had turned over onto my side yet again to vomit out dark liquid and chunks of berries.

Dazed, I had wearily opened my eyes to be greeted by my beloved friends. A humming went through my ears as I _saw_ the frantic signs Ash was making, I could _see_ them. The frantic, _get up_ 's; the rapid, _they're coming_ 's. I could _see_ them all.

But I could not hear _their_ voices. I could not _hear_ them. Enraged at the turn of events and this _damned_ life and the idiotic choice I had made by agreeing to go on this cursed "adventure", I had sobbed and shook my head. Innocent lives, they were innocent, they had done _no wrong_ ; they did not deserve this fucked up fate. In my desperation to have them save themselves, I had pleaded them to escape, pleaded them to save themselves, pleaded them to _live_. If I was going to die, I wanted to die knowing that _they would be safe_ , because Team Rocket _would_ kill us or kill me and _exploit_ them.

My vision had blurred, splotches of black overcoming my sight only to eventually subside. When it did, _they_ were no longer there.

In their place, high in the ominous, charcoal-colored cloud-filled sky, were bird Pokémon with humans in black uniforms upon them; emerging from the shadowy forest, ground Pokémon had led their abhorrent and despicable "masters".

I had squinted my eyes to make it appear as if I were sleeping without losing my ability to at least _look at them._ They halted a great distance away from me. Words, they had been speaking amongst themselves, I _knew_ they had; they had mercilessly spoken in concern as to how they would dispose of a corpse, _my corpse_. What they would _do_ with it. My heart had hammered in my chest, I _could not_ move. My body had been weighed down with exhaustion and it had _hurt-too-fucking-much_ to budge.

I had to come to terms with the fact that I would be a goner; I had to come to terms with it in order to move on, there had to be no regrets this time. _No more fucking regrets_.

Team Rocket had been closing in.

Lightning had begun to flash in the distance.

Yellow had blocked my view.

My eyes had widened, and a petrified scream had rippled through my throat as _he_ had leapt and went _soaring_ through the air at the exact moment a sharp, loud crack had resounded through the small canyon. My eyes had stung as I helplessly watched on as the lurid, white light had met its target.

The terrain before me exploded in illuminous colors of yellow, blue, and white, and my ears were able to distinguish the piercing cries of those before us as I had been thrown backwards.

I had readied myself for excruciating pain, but there had been none. A jagged, chilled tail that I had become familiar with over the last few months had wrapped itself around me and lifted me into the air.

Benevolent, patient, silver eyes had met mine as I had recognized the distressed gazes from Aura and Nicodemus who had been clung to Caelus's head. The continual sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning and bellows of torment had persistently caught the attention of Aura and Nicodemus who had both watched on in grief. Yet, Caelus's gleaming eyes had never wavered from me even when I had tried to face the battlefield, the tip of his tail had ever-so-considerably rested below my chin to prevent me from looking. In a failed attempt to distract me, he had cautiously spun me around, shooting me a warm smile that had brought tears to my eyes.

 **.**

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

 **.**

As far as we had been able to discern, most of the Grunts and Pokémon had been violently liquidated, and the forest had caught ablaze. Nicodemus and I had vomited at the sight of splattered anatomical parts of humans and Pokémon across the burnt field, but we had staggered along after the other two with the desire to not be left behind.

We were all aware that we were not well off. During our search for Ash, Aura had begun to scour the corpses of the humans, rolling out empty pokéball after empty pokéball. Caelus had followed suit. I had swallowed the bile arising in my throat as I had seized Nicodemus and promptly shoved him inside my hoodie where he had extended his arms to cling onto my shirt, before opening my backpack to throw all the functionable pokéballs in. It had been a burdensome task as my fingers had skimmed across the blood and pieces of flesh in a futile attempt to rid them from the stainless steel. I had been grateful that Aura, out of sympathy, had nudged me forward with knowing eyes and the silent command of " _Find Ash_."

Ash had been found in a steaming crater, one that had been created in the fight. Although bloodied with patches of burnt fur, Ash had _survived_. His chest rising and falling with each breath had been proof of that.

Heavy eyelids had begun to open, "Pi-pi…", but I had shushed him with an affectionate kiss to the forehead as I had cradled him like an infant in my arms, my arms protesting in strain at the new weight of my newly evolved friend. A Pokémon's evolution, it should have been a joyous moment really; two of them had evolved in a day. Such a commemoration had not befallen us, if only that day had not been that of undeviating trepidation and heartache.

Thus, we had left the nightmare behind and had soared away on Caelus's back, high above the burning flames enveloping the tree tops, not even bothering to look back at the entirety of what had been left behind. The Pokémon International Police would handle it.

It was their job after all.

* * *

"Pikachu and Dragonair should be fine after a couple of days of rest." Nurse Joy reassured me in the isolated ICU waiting room as Nicodemus and Aura scurried from behind her to throw themselves into my awaiting arms. A relieved sigh escaped my lips and I smiled at her, "Thank you for healing and caring for them, Nurse Joy."

She vaguely smiled, "You're welcome, but I must inquire for the safety of the Pokémon... what happened?"

My shoulders slouched forward at the weight of the question, "We were running through the rain and couldn't find shelter. Pikachu was struck by lightning and we were hurt." A tired smile grazed my lips, "It was my fault. I didn't know it was going to rain."

Her eyebrows furrowed in deliberation, before she slowly responded, "... all of you _traveled_ in _this_ weather?"

"Yes, Nurse Joy, is something wrong with that?" I inquired meeting her astounded face.

"Viridian Police spent over the last week patrolling the main route and giving rides to all Trainers as a safety protocol."

I faltered, "W-wait, what?"

"The P-Pokémon Center was r-recently informed that T-T-Team Ro―" I held my hand up mid-air, palm facing her, she stopped talking. She fidgeted in place, wriggling her hands, my heart went out to her, "Are you new to the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy?"

Surprise flickered across her features, "Y-Yes, I started three months a-ago!"

I sighed and leaned back into my seat, "I'm sorry. That must be harsh on you. With _them_ being in town and all." I emphasized.

She stayed silent as I continued, "I was at fault, too. You have made me come to realize that, although I knew the general direction Viridian was in, I had led them onto the _wrong path_. We hadn't taken the main path; if we had, we _would_ have come across a police officer."

"You came across them, didn't you?" She meekly whispered in a hushed tone.

An enervating, forced smile came across my face, "What were…" I roughly swallowed, "Were there any news?"

She sat in a cushioned seat in front of me, grave Egyptian blue eyes dimmed as she held her chin in contemplation.

"An announcement was made by the Viridian Police Station that they were investigating a wildfire that had begun in the forests of Route 1 on June 27," My eyes narrowed as she stared at me in silence.

"There's more to it."

She hesitantly nodded, "Officials in association with the Pokémon League were told to be on the lookout."

Noticing my questioning gaze, she whispered, "The general public is not informed of the following so I suggest you keep silent about this, but the Pokémon League and the Pokémon International Police are working together… they believe there's another terrorist group on the rise."

The wind was knocked out of me and I struggled to respond, when I did, it was an inquiry in regards to those who had perished that ill-fated day.

"D-Did anyone s-survive?"

Sorrowful eyes met mine, "No."

I lowered my head and tightened my arms around my Aura and Nicodemus, "What will you do now?"

"Go back to work and keep my eye out for anyone suspicious." I heard her shift and the crinkle of fabric as she rose.

"Nurse Joy?"

She hummed.

I hesitated, "W-Why?"

A cool palm was placed on my forehead before it retreated, "This is the first time I've treated a Pokémon Trainer and their Pokémon together after a battle. Your hearts are one... it surprises me, but it reassures me, too."

"Nurse Joy?"

She hummed again as she took out a digital forehead thermometer from her apron and placed it against my forehead.

"They aren't mine. They own themselves." I declared as I brushed my fingers through my two critters hair as they cozied up against me.

A heartfelt smile stretched across her face as she read the results, "Well, Miss Caelum, seems to me that you have a high fever. Let me have Chansey set you up in the room so you can bathe and rest."

I opened my mouth to protest, but she shushed me as she pulled out a two-way radio from her apron and spoke into it, "Chansey, have an adult bed placed into ICU room number four… Ash and Caesum's room."

I scoffed and raised an eyebrow, "Caelus."

She sweat-dropped as she brought the radio up to her lips again, "I meant, Ash and Caelus."

* * *

 ** _A_ _uthor's_ _Note:_**

 _Thank you to those who have supported the story so far by favoring it and/or following it. I'm happy to know that people enjoyed reading the prologue to "Solitude". I apologize for any grammatical errors made in this chapter, since I didn't have much time to edit it._

 _That being said, feel free to send me a PM with any writing tips or any other tricks you might think is important in regard to uploading on this website. I am aware I mostly need help on my punctuations (so a little "hey, you fu*cked up here" notification will never go unappreciated). This story will constantly go from present to past to present to past… you get the jist. Eventually, other character's thoughts will be integrated into some chapters. I go by my style of writing; if you don't like it, then you don't like it. Do yourself a favor and avoid the story if you dislike it; help yourself avoid negative feelings, I say._

 _Reviews are love; please don't be a d*ck and call out other people. Don't include me in any online drama here, I'm only trying to get by in life and writing helps. Be gentle and kind; if a reviewer writes something offensive (i.e. racially-offensive, consistent cursing towards an individual, etc.), feel free to report them. If you can't, PM me and I will do it. If I can't, I'll find a way. Otherwise, be the bigger person and ignore their negativity; yeah, it's the internet, you got your rights to do this-and-that and what-not. I get that, I understand, but remember this world has a way of giving out punishment. Sometimes, it can take hours, or days, or maybe even years, but it'll get you eventually._

 _Why be at your worst when you can be at your best? Think before you act; I wish you guys the best. Good luck and much love._


End file.
